Exit strategies should be considered when launching a business
The Biz Foundry's Jess Lewis experienced the challenge when she decided to sell her gyms, and the organization's Marketing Director and Program Coordinator shares her thoughts after the fact.
Jess Lewis is the Marketing Director and Program Coordinator at The Biz Foundry in Cookeville. In a recent blog post for the entrepreneur center, she writes about the importance of business owners having an exit strategy.
“When I started my gym, I never thought about my exit plan. But I did think about my goal,” Lewis writes. “In the beginning, my end goal was to create jobs and have multiple locations. Yet as time went on my vision got clearer, I brought on staff, and eventually realized that model wasn’t what I truly wanted. I was much happier growing my single location and doing most things myself.
“I knew being a solopreneur wasn’t scalable, sellable, or investable, but my dream shifted and I was happy to be doing the work I was doing. I never really knew or could even imagine what the end of my dream would look like. Fast forward six years, I was burned out and wanted out. I had no clue what was next or how to get out. As I thought through my exit, I realized the solution was to close up shop. I could take all the profit out of my business, sell off all the equipment, help my members find new gyms, and move on to the next chapter of my life.
“This bittersweet process worked well for my situation. My business was always part profit, part passion project. I knew had I done things differently I could have made millions, but I was committed to my mission and didn’t want to go big. Looking back I have no regrets about my exit, but I want to share a few things I think I could have done differently.”
You can find her thoughts at this link.
